I have graduated from mooring the boat to maybe buyin a lift. A friend has the solar powered aluminum lift, but I think I would be fine with a crank up style. I saw one on ebay for $2600 "buy it now" - but I really think I can find a better deal. Maybe I should search harder for used? Has anyone built one of these before? It cant be that hard, and I have access to all the equipment I would need to make it. Any ideas? Drawings? Used lifts? Or am I just being a cheap beasterd...

you are being a cheap bastard i bought a crank one a few years back, crankin it ain't bad unless you've been tossin 'em back all day. in that case you just crank it so the hull is out of the water then put it all the way up in the morning.

I bought one of ebay last fall. brand new aluminum manual vertical lift #4500 capacity. spent about 2700.00 and 300.00 was for shipping. just put it together last week(took about 4 hrs) I have an 02 sante that im using it for. i havent had it on it yet but we put our pontoon on it for a test run.. it wasnt bad turning that wheel but i ordered an electric motor for it Tuesday.. i think cranking that thing would get old quick. I've been pricing thme for awhile and $3200 for everything isnt bad. at our boat shows,they were priced around 5500, but they had the solar and not electric. i used lakesidelift.com ask for dave

Since the title mentions other styles I'll bring up the Airdock. The Airdock is different than most lifts, it uses a bladder system to lift the boat. I bought one last year shortly after getting my boat and I've been very happy with it. I had some technical issues getting it setup but the phone support was great and they got me squared away. They also have local dealers who will handle the setup if you prefer.

The big advantage to the airdock for me was flexibility. I slip my boat in the Delta so I wanted a lift, but I take the boat out for the off season so I needed something I could take out and store in a reasonable amount of space. The bladders come apart and roll up so they can be stored much smaller than a conventional lift.

If you have a seasonal need, or might want to move the lift to different locations the airdock is something to consider.

Ted, it may pay to talk around with your local dock builders. I've been quoted a four pole 6500 lift installed for $4k with no roof. I'm doing mine myself this year for hopefully less than $3k. I'm going to get the poles put in and then do everything else myself.

I paid $2500 for the Airdock, delivered to my door. This includes the additional mat that protects the bladders from the fins on our inboards.

If you are looking to lift the boat in open water, you'll need an anchoring system. Airdock provides some direction on this setup in the manual. I'm in a slip so the bladders are simply tied off.

I also have power at my slip, so I'm using the AC control box. They offer a DC pump system that runs off boat power. Mine fills in less than 2 minutes, I think they say the DC setup takes about twice as long.